So much of AI governance focuses on control: policies, the right model, no shadow AI. But to govern is to oversee direction as well as control, and the risk we tend to neglect is the risk of not using AI.
In part 2 of AI & Accountants 2026, Jannie Wentzel, partner and chief operating officer at Cential, unpacks:
• The three areas of AI risk: using it, external threats from others who use it, and not using it
• How his roughly 20-person firm uses AI agents to deliver a risk assessment with about half the team he once needed
• Trend analysis across years of financial statements: a day or more of work, now about 20 minutes of his time with an AI agent
• Why smaller organizations may have the edge: they're more nimble, and integration hurdles are fast disappearing
• Why IT alone shouldn't drive AI governance, and how involving strategy and operations enables innovation while still controlling AI risk
• Why AI isn't necessarily a separate risk: it shapes how almost every risk is managed, for better, for worse, or both
Essential listening for any leader whose AI governance has been all control, no direction.
Brought to you by CAW Network USA.
